Public Transit in the GTA, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

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City moving forward on Relief Line linking Pape Station with City Hall

This is another in a series of “look ahead” posts, describing some of the multitude of transit proposals that are currently on the political agenda. These posts will form a starting point for future posts to detail the various stages of each proposal — from public consultation, through construction to operation.

At its meeting this week, the City of Toronto’s Executive Committee approved a staff report recommending that the City move forward on a number of transit initiatives and formally integrate the City’s SmartTrack plan with the Metrolinx program of introducing regional express rail (RER) service along GO Transit’s rail corridors.

The committee also gave the go-ahead for staff to fine-tune and further review their recommended corridor for building a Relief Line subway to link the east end of the TTC’s 2 Bloor - Danforth subway line with downtown Toronto. The new subway would, ideally, divert passengers heading downtown from East York, east-end Toronto and Scarborough and reduce congestion at Bloor - Yonge Station, where two TTC subway lines connect.

developing station concepts - for example where to build the station “box”, entrances, connections to other transit, ventilation, emergency exits, electrical substations;

resolving geotechnical issues resulting from tunnelling under the Don River; and

identify strategies for reducing the impact on nearby residences and businesses.

City staff are now recommending a line stretching from Pape Station to the area near Nathan Phillips Square and City Hall, with pedestrian connections to both Queen and Osgoode stations. Trains would likely operate under Pape Avenue and Queen or Richmond Streets to the City Hall area.

They’ve identified several variations of the alignment - the route - of the future subway, some diverting away from the residential area on Pape Avenue south of Gerrard by following the GO rail corridor, some using Eastern Avenue in the east end to reduce the necessity for sharp curves that might slow down trains operating along the line.

The new line could include possible new stations in the area of Carlaw or Pape Avenues / Gerrard Street East (this station could potentially include connections to GO Transit and SmartTrack), Carlaw or Pape / Queen Street East with possible stops under Queen or Richmond at Sumach / Cherry, Sherbourne and Bay.

Eventually, the City and TTC could extend the line on either end:

in the east - northward under Pape and Don Mills Road to Don Mills Station on the 4 Sheppard subway line; or

in the west - under Queen westward to the area of Roncesvalles Avenue, then northward to connect again with the 2 Bloor - Danforth line, probably at Dundas West Station.

Before recommending “Corridor B” as the corridor they prefer, City staff analyzed four different corridors for the future line starting in June, 2015:

in the east end, they looked at options under Broadview or Pape Avenues; and

in downtown Toronto, they examined options using King and Wellington Streets or Queen and Richmond Streets.

Opportunity to better distribute pedestrian flows downtown by connecting north of the Financial District and away from Union Station and King Station;

Provides access to key destinations along Queen Street near downtown, (such as Eaton Centre, City Hall, St. Michael’s Hospital);

Improves access to Regent Park Neighbourhood Improvement Area and to other community facilities, including Bridgepoint Health;

Least expensive corridor to build in Phase 1 with the shortest length. Shallowest bedrock profile in the Don River Valley (20 to 25 metres deep), allowing for shallowest alignment and associated stations.

Disadvantages:

Fewer stations than other corridors, resulting in less local neighborhood access No connections to SmartTrack or regional express rail and no connections to future Eastern Waterfront streetcar network;

Future western extension along Queen Street would provide less access to high density areas such as Liberty Village;

Does not provide access to key destinations east of downtown, such as George Brown College, St. Lawrence Market or the Distillery District;

Does not provide access to neighbourhoods east of Broadview, such as Queen/Carlaw and Gerrard Square;

May require most underground property easements for tunnel through Regent Park area, depending on alignment;

Constrained right-of-way around Gerrard and Broadview may increase complexity of station construction and may result in the potential for temporary and permanent impacts on the surrounding neighbourhood;

Depending on alignment and feasibility of other transit modes, may support proposed employment growth at the Unilever lands; and

Potential to connect directly to Greenwood Yard](/subway/5302.shtml).

Disadvantages:

May increase passenger crowding at King Station

May increase pedestrian crowding in the Financial District where pedestrian volumes on the street network and in the underground PATH walkway are typically higher;

Does not provide access to key destinations along Queen Street near downtown, (such as Eaton Centre, City Hall, St. Michael’s Hospital);

Substantial underground property easements may be required, depending on selection of alignment;

Constrained right-of-way along King Street may increase complexity of station construction and result in the potential for temporary and permanent impacts on the surrounding neighbourhood;

Depending on alignment, the constrained right-of-way along Queen Street and Pape Ave may increase complexity of station construction and result in the potential for temporary and permanent impacts on the surrounding neighbourhood;

Depending on alignment, a significant portion of the corridor may cross the flood protection area and interfere with the sanitary sewer in the West Don Lands;

Corridor crosses the former Consumers Gas coal-gasification works that are heavily impacted by coal tar;

Depending on alignment, substantial redevelopment must occur on the Unilever lands to generate passenger volumes that justify building a subway station there;

Longer corridor with more stations; expected to be more expensive to build.

Possible buried bedrock in the Don River Valley (30 to 35 metres deep) may require deeper alignment and stations to enable tunnelling through bedrock; and

Potential risk to tunnelling under Queen Street bridge abutments at the Don River.

East Bayfront: the waterfront area between Yonge Street and the Keating Channel / Don River.

Distillery District: the former Gooderham and Worts Distillery lands, now redeveloped into a commercial and residential district, with both heritage and new builxdings.

Financial District: high-density commercial area centred on the intersection of King Street West and Bay Street. The Toronto Stock Exchange is nearby.

Gerrard Square: a shopping mall on the northeast corner of Gerrard Street East and Pape Avenue.

Keating Channel District: a proposed new commercial and residential area north of the Keating Channel - the outlet of the Don River into Toronto Harbour. The area stretches between Parliament Street and the Don River, south of the GO Transit tracks. The City has proposed shifting the Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway further north to make more lands available for development in the future Keating Channel District.

Portlands: the current industrial, commercial and recreational lands south of Lake Shore Boulevard East, roughly between Cherry and Leslie Streets.

Unilever lands: the site of the former Unilever / Lever Brothers plant on the south side of Eastern Avenue, just east of the Don River. The developer has proposed building a corporate business centre there.

West Don Lands: a new high-density residential community south of Eastern Avenue and north of the GO Transit Tracks, between Parliament Street and the Don River. It housed the athletes’ village during the recent PanAm / ParaPanAm Games.

Wye: a Y-shaped arrangement of tracks to switch trains from one direction to another.

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